OnePlus has been accused of throttling apps quite recently, and the company has just admitted that the accusations are true. The company does believe to have a good reason why it’s doing that.
The OnePlus 9 Pro was tested, and Anandtech found that OnePlus is throttling apps. The company responded by saying it’s doing so to achieve better performance, and thus benefit users.
OnePlus admits to throttling apps, reveals why it’s doing it
OnePlus says that it received some user feedback following the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro launch. Users requested better battery life, heat management, and ultimately… performance.
The company says that its R&D team worked hard to optimize the OnePlus 9 series performance when using many of the popular apps, including Chrome. It says that the phone matches the app’s processor requirements with the most appropriate power.
OnePlus says that this “helps provide a smooth experience while reducing power consumption”. This may impact the phone’s performance in some benchmarking apps, but that’s a small price to pay if it means better performance for users, says OnePlus.
Many apps are affected by this
That is a valid explanation from OnePlus, though the findings are still surprising. Many of you may be bothered by this still, as the list of throttled apps is quite long. The apps affected are Chrome, Firefox, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Zoom, WhatsApp, TikTok, Amazon, Dropbox, Google’s native apps, and more.
The OnePlus 9 Pro actually handled some of these apps quite aggressively, like Chrome, for example. Chrome on the OnePlus 9 Pro “shows up as a low-end budget device in terms of speed”, says Anandtech. It’s actually ranked below the Pixel 5.
As already said, this may bother you, though, on the other hand, if you haven’t noticed the difference in performance… why should it bother you? If it means better performance of the device, better battery life, and power consumption, perhaps it’s worth it? The opinions will differ, of course, to each their own.